ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Stories to be told in sound…some old…some new. Composers weave a fabric of emotional cloth and wait for the Storyteller to interpret the rise and fall of their woven lines.

Our Storyteller is a unique virtuoso. Patrick Sheridan possesses a sound and technique on the tuba never before heard for its beauty and fluidity. Now comes the challenge of this recording – to interpret music written over a span of more than 175 years with an emotional range from pathos to comedy to high drama. In this recording, Patrick transcends technique to communicate directly with the listener on purely emotional terms. Sometimes we hear him as a center stage soloist. At other times we hear him alone in soliloquy and sometimes we hear him in the role of narrator as in a Greek drama.

Enabling Patrick to achieve this high level of storytelling is the great conductor, Gert Buitenhuis. Their frequent collaborations in wind band concerts around Europe have created a level of communication that is every soloist’s dream. They make no eye contact!! They typically face in opposite directions! Their connection is through breathing awareness and a unanimity of musical direction. Their uncanny ability to create rubato as one musical organism caused many to exclaim, “Unbelievable!” between recording session takes.

Here, then, are the Stories told by a master Storyteller with sets, costumes, lighting and staging by a master director. Listen to these stories as you would read a book that takes you away to another place and time while sitting in your favorite chair. Or make some popcorn, sit on the couch and “watch” the movies in your mind made by these musical stories and our virtuoso storyteller, Patrick Sheridan.